Not So Neverland
by webcomix
Summary: Even though friends will leave, life still goes on. One runs off to traipse about abroad, the other stays at home and tries to keep Hetalia High's new theatre production together. For Gillian and Maddie, growing up will be an awfully big adventure. Teenage partial genderbend AU, rated for mouth/innuendo. POSSIBLE rating change later; idk. Spin-off Sequel ish to World Wide Story
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: ****This**** might be my favourite one**** in the series**** yet. A few warnings: some later content **_**may**_** be more worthy of an OT rating, but YMMV. As part of a series, this story may contain elements and references to previous stories, but once again I hope that it will manage to be readable on its own. I kind of have been building up to this, though, just to warn newcomers! o3o**

**Basically all the "official" pairings from **_**World Wide Story **_**(which, by the way, is having its first newly edited chapter uploaded today…) that we stopped seeing in **_**All The Answers**_** are back again in this one. Yay!  
**

**AND GUESS WHAT? According to my stats, 104 people out there consider me to be one of their favourite fanfiction authors. Thank you all, I feel so honoured. /bows deeply**

**Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.  
****The Mighty Ducks belong to Walt Disney Pictures.**

* * *

January 4th, 9:08 AM, -10 degrees Celsius, excluding windchill. Maddie crept past her brother's open door, listening to Gabriel's soft snores trickling out into the hallway. Her mother was already downstairs, frying pancakes for breakfast. Before she turned the corner, Maddie froze upon hearing her father's voice.

"…about seven inches last night, probably more out in the country. If this keeps up, they might postpone the first day of school, even. Though it also depends on the wind, whether it makes an affect the commuters…"

Maddie took a deep breath and silently tiptoe-hopped across the hallway towards the door just as her parents' backs were turned towards her. Reaching it in perfect time, she quickly shoved boots onto her otherwise bare feet and wrenched open the front door.

"Maddie, is that you?"

Panicking slightly, she dived straight into the freezing cold. And instantly regretted the decision as soon as the door banged shut behind her. Yeah, going outside in nothing but shorts and a hoodie in the dead of winter was probably the dumbest idea Maddie's mind had generated yet – one in a long list of many, with more guaranteed to come. Emitting tiny yelps of cold, she struggled through the pile of snow towards their mailbox.

"Maddie! What on Earth are you doing?"

"J-just a minute!" she stammered back, tugging the tiny door down, wincing as her fingers touched bare metal.

Bills…bills…an advert…

Shoved in at the back was a light brown, very fat parcel with a scribbly, uneven script in one corner, bearing the words:

_Gillian Beilschmidt  
Reichesstraβe, 88  
__B-__13086, Berlin  
__Germany_

"MADELEINE JENNIFER WILLIAMS, return inside this second before you freeze to death!"

"Coming!" Mrs. Williams stood back to allow her daughter to flounder back up the path and back into the house, gasping feebly through chattering teeth.

"What were you thinking, going out there in nothing but your pyjamas? Go get dressed and then come eat something hot."

She nodded meekly, handing over the stack of mail – except for the largest one. Then, hurtling up the stairs two at a time, nearly colliding with a sleepy-eyed Gabriel partway through, Maddie dashed back into her room, burrowing beneath the covers.

"Sorry, Kuma," she apologized to the chubby, grey-white British longhair cat nestled on one side of the bed. Kuma blinked twice, staring intently at the human girl ripping apart the packaging eagerly. As the contents of parcel were showered onto the sheets, Kuma yawned, giving up all attempts to recognize her owner.

Maddie eyed the slightly crumpled pieces of stationery, covered from top to bottom in messy, excited handwriting, but picked up the rest of its contents first.

Gillian had packed it all in as a big fat bundle. Maddie could feel something hard in the centre of the lump, and slowly began to unwind the dark blue fabric. After a few seconds, she realized that the covering itself wasn't just for wrapping and protection – more unravelling revealed a long woollen scarf with tiny white leaves embroidered along the edge. It was gorgeous. Distracted by this revelation, Maddie dropped the surprise at the end onto the covers, where it landed with a loud tinkle. Maddie gasped in delight and picked it up by the gold string at the top. Kuma swatted at the three-tiered ceramic Christmas tree dangling from her fingertips, and the pieces clanged together musically.

Maddie smiled at her presents and carefully set them down before finally reading Gillian's letter.

_Dear Maddeh dahling,_

_Do you like your present? Isn't it AWESOME? Next time you send me something, it better have a pic of you wearing it. You'll look awesome, trust me. It cost me like three euros to send this package all the way to you! But of course, you deserve it too because you sent me a pretty damn awesome present. I even got it a few days before Christmas, which is why I'm wearing it in our family picture. (Sorry, I couldn't wait…)_

Maddie peered back into the envelope and pulled out a photograph. Four people beamed up at her next to a heavily decorated Christmas tree. Two of them were thin, elderly but cheerful people who could only be Gillian's grandparents. In front of them knelt a young man in his mid-twenties, who shared near-identical grins with the teenage girl sitting next to him. It was only a picture, but Maddie still blushed when she saw that the girl was wearing bright pink lightning bolt earrings that dangled nearly to her shoulders. She'd just thought that they'd suited her…

_Anyway, I hope you got this in time. I hope Luddy and 'Tonio got their stuff too. Francis is still in Paris with his dad, but he'll come here soon in January! So I didn't go out and do all the touristy thingies like the wall, or the Reichstag, or any of those things. I did them all when I was little, when I first came over with vati and mutti and Ludwig. It's just been me and Fritz hanging out near here. So not downtown or anything…still, there's a lot of awesome stuff happening! Apparently the next neighbourhoodish area is really trendy and shit, so we go there a lot. Lots of restaurants, art galleries, and other hipster type of stuff there. And a lot of people who speak English, actually. Like this one comedy club we went to – someone told me they thought my earrings were cool! So that's you, awesome!_

_The most awesome part about Germany in the winter is definitely the Christmas fairs, though. You should see them. They're all like these little booths that sell everything from cheese to sausage to gingerbread and ornaments. We got some to put around the house, and that's one of the things I got you, the tree bell thingie! Got you a gingerbread person too, but…I ate it. Hahahaha!_

_There was this awesome slide people set up in the middle of the fair – it was like, eight feet tall and really steep! We went on it five times, until the lady told us that it was too much and it really was for the little kids. So unawesome. Those babies were usually too scared to go alone anyway._

Maddie was suddenly struck with the image of Gillian and her cousin mobbing a giant, bouncy-castle type of booth in front of a crowd of crying children. She groaned and laughed simultaneously, looking back down to read the rest of the letter.

_So that's me. Hope you're having a Christmas just as awesome as mine! Don't die at school! School = evil. Don't let it take away your soul, Maddieeeeee!_

_Just kidding, you're too awesome to be soul-stolen. Tell me everything that happens! That hag Tackett missing me in detention? Feli and Luddy are okay now? Lovi and 'Tonio being all lovey and shit? (Well I guess Tonio's doing the lovey part while Lovi just yells at him or something) Al still being crazy? Keep me updated and I'll do the same. Francis and I are going to keep on visiting people to laugh in their faces how they're working their asses off in school while we have all the freedom in the world. Right now we're planning on saying hi to Roddy and Liz. Francis also really wants to see Artie, so maybe we can fit more people in. Like Vash! That would be pretty awesome!_

_WRITE ME BACK! NOW!_

_Gilly_

Maddie was so concentrated on the words that she was startled by the knocking on her door, causing her leg to kick sporadically. Kuma irritably got up and hopped off the bed, making a beeline for the sunny spot on the rug.

"Mom says to come down and eat," Gabriel informed her through the door.

Several minutes later, he and the rest of the Williams family looked up from their plates to hear a light tinkling sound.

"Look what I got," Maddie announced, holding up the tiny tree.

"Adorable," smiled Mrs. Williams. She gestured towards a plate. "Eat up."

The tree jingled cheerfully as Maddie brought it over. Gabriel ignored the ornament as it was set next to his place, his attention focused solely on scarfing down his bacon.

She reached for the syrup as her father spoke to both of them. "So. Plans for today? Last weekend before class begins again. It's a great day to be out."

"'Still got another week," Gabriel mumbled over the rim of his mug.

Maddie had plopped a spoonful of whipped cream in the centre of her pancake, and was now topping it with blueberries. "Alfred wants to hang out. He said something about skating."

"Great idea! Gabey, why don't you join them?"

The preteen shot his father a dour look. "But I was going to work on my film…"

Maddie rolled her eyes. Recently, her brother had become just a little bit obsessed with video. Or perhaps it was just that he wanted to avoid hanging around with his older sister, since it obviously wasn't "cool". Not that she cared, honestly.

"Suit yourself." Mr. Williams' coffee mug paused on its way to his lips as the doorbell rang. "That's probably him right now."

Sure enough, as Mrs. Williams opened the door, her greeting of, "Alfred! How nice to see you!" was drowned out by the even louder exclamation of, "HEY! MADDIE READY YET?"

"I'm not even done eating!" she yelled from the kitchen. In seconds, an excited face peered in at them.

"Oh my god, pancakes!" Alfred's blue eyes widened beneath his blond hair, which was growing just a little bit too long. "Damn, looks so good…"

"Come on, have a plate," Mrs. Williams offered generously. Before anyone could move, their guest was already in a chair across from Maddie, scooting it up close to the table and picking up a fork eagerly.

"Pig," she scoffed.

"I'm a growing boy," he grinned. Turning to Gabriel, who looked significantly more interested in conversing now that another non-adult male present. "How's your movie coming along?"

Maddie excused herself as Gabriel began to talk about the comic he was trying to animate. Alfred was more than up to the task of finishing their food, judging by the loud clattering of silverware upon porcelain. When she walked into her room, the sun pouring in was obscured slightly by a light flurry of snowflakes. Maddie shooed Kuma away from her closet door and began to dress for the cold weather. After pulling on her 2010 Olympic mittens, she hesitated, then grabbed Gillian's new scarf to finish the outfit.

Alfred was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, looking very full and pleased with his second breakfast. As Maddie made her way towards him, he smirked.

"Red, white and blue!" He pointed at her mittens, hoodie and scarf. "How patriotic. I approve."

She snorted and pretended to be offended. "Shut up, I'm Canadian." Gabriel appeared on the staircase, dragging his hockey bag behind him.

"Here, you can use it," he said bluntly. Before Maddie could even thank him, her brother was darting back into his room.

Alfred picked up both bags with relative ease, car keys dangling from his fingers. "Great! Let's go."

* * *

The snow was still providing a blurry curtain over their vision, but the two eventually made it to Barryknoll Park. There was no way that lake was frozen enough for a safe game of hockey, but park management was kind enough to create a few small ice rinks for people's convenience. Only one was taken up at the moment – by a small family of four who seemed to be using the day to teach their youngest to skate. Alfred and Maddie claimed the third, skipping over the one in between for respectful distance, and began to set up their gear. The snow had finally let up, so Maddie wiped her glasses one last time.

Alfred smirked. "Hey lil' sis, if you think those mittens are gonna make this another win for Canada, be prepared to be disappointed. Just telling you before tragedy hits!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well you know why the Mighty Ducks freaked out over Iceland? Because the filmmakers knew it wouldn't make sense for a bunch of _American_ kids to beat Canada. Also, the flying V would never work in real life."

"Hey! Don't diss the Ducks!" Alfred began to mime air guitar with his hockey stick. "Weeeeeee are the chaaaaampions, mah friiiiieeeeeends…."

Maddie laughed as he continued singing, tossing the puck into the ice.

Like a miracle, the snow clouds vanished for good, providing the rest of the day with bright sunlight to counter the chilly air. The siblings on the court didn't seem to notice, busily pushing and aiming and screaming with glee when one managed to score a goal past the other. By the afternoon, it turned out that 2010 Vancouver Olympics mittens perhaps did have some sort of lucky charm to them, because Alfred was bushed at the score of 7 to 3 in favour to the Ontario native. His pout was still there when they took their lunch break at the snack stand.

"I don't wanna go back to school," he lamented, picking at his fries.

"It's your last year!"

"I know! I think I already have senioritis."

"Wow." Maddie shot him a stern look. "You have college applications, Al."

He covered his ears dramatically. "Shhhh. We're still on break. Don't ruin it. Have a freakin' fry!"

Alfred shoved the tray towards her. Maddie picked one up and surveyed it thoughtfully.

"You know what we need here? Poutine."

"'Kay. I'll agree it tastes good, but poutine is so weird."

"It's just as weird as gravy with mashed potatoes – in fact, it's practically the same thing!"

"But that's because like, you can shape the mashed potatoes into a mountain, and then make a scoop at the top with your spoon, so when you put gravy over it, it's like a volcano!" Alfred reached over and tugged on her scarf.

That made her jump a little. "Hey! Don't make it dirty…"

"Never seen ya wear this before." Alfred examined the white leaves. "Christmas present?"

He didn't notice the silly little grin that crept across her face. "Yeah."

"Awesome!"

The word made her smile again. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

**A/N:**** Ate maple cookies whilst writing part of this. Appropriate. **

**I made up the Berlin address****, so it could be completely done wrong. ****I was lucky enough to pay a visit to Germany when it was late October, when people were beginning to put up the Christmas fairs. So it's mostly from memory that I describe Gilly's experiences C: That tree-chime ornament was really cute.**

**/doesn't think there are many people who actually bother following this series anymore, but that's okay, because I'm just really in love with my characters and giving them rounded lives**

**Um please R&R? I've kind of missed the feedback. /puppy eyes**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: WHOO EUROPE YEAH! Also, for those who aren****'**t familiar with my updating habits, I usually try to update each weekend! Just a heads up.  


**Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.  
****Peter Pan belongs to JM Barrie.**

* * *

On the other side of the globe, another teenage girl lay sprawled out on her grandparents' couch. Gillian let out a big puff of air through her lower lip, fluffing her long, silver bangs upwards into the air. Wrinkling her nose and squinting at the laptop screen, she reread Maddie's email for the umpteenth time.

_Hi Gillian,_

_Thank you so much for the Christmas present. It's really nice. My family's been pretty reluctant to take down all our decorations, but the tree has got to go by the 15__th__ because that's when the garbage disposal people are going to take it, officially. But don't worry; I'm going to keep yours on our mantel just a little bit longer. C:_

_I'm afraid there really aren't any super interesting pieces of news to give you. There was a lot of snow…and school started for the second term. Nothing's really different. I mean, it's halfway through the year already. Al has college applications, which I guess you figured out since Ludwig should be working on them too. All the seniors are really, really busy, which is kind of making me nervous for next year…_

_One cool thing though (but it just really affects me and not that many other people, sorry if it's not interesting to you) is that HK and I put up posters for the spring play auditions. We're going back to just a play, not a musical – I think they're going to do that every other year instead, even if Arthur did a good job with _West Side Story_ last year. Anyway, our play is going to be _Peter Pan_. It's kind of cool; the posters have only been up for a few days but a lot of people signed up already (I was scared they wouldn't because so many of the people from _West Side _were from your grade!). A lot of freshmen who I've never heard of especially, and that's really good since we need people who can pass as children, you know?_

_Anyway, I'm probably boring you because you're doing way cooler things in Europe. So happy new year, and say hi to Francis for me!_

_Maddie_

Gillian wrapped her arms around a cushion and buried the bottom half of her face in it, biting back a little grin. It was just like Maddie to be constantly apologizing all throughout her letter. So cute. Gillian's long, thin legs kicked up lazily into the air, causing her to kick the other cushion to the floor by accident.

"Morgen, mäuschen!"

A lean, wiry young man of twenty-three strolled in, his long fair hair tied back in a ponytail. Gillian flopped over onto her back and scooted to make room for her cousin as he settled down beside her, picking up the fallen cushion. Fritz Hohenzollern craned his neck at her laptop.

"What are you reading?"

Gillian had, with a bit of difficulty, wiggled herself into an almost-sitting position against the couch's end, placing her laptop precariously onto her belly as she adjusted herself. "Only this really awesome letter from this really awesome person."

"Mmhmm…like your friend? Or some boy?" Fritz poked her leg teasingly. "Love letters so young?"

She pouted at him indignantly. "It's a GIRL! And I'm eighteen! Who says I'm too young?"

He shrugged. Gillian spun the laptop around to show him, not really caring about the way her shirt got caught on the edges and rode up her stomach. "See?"

Fritz caught the computer before it went crashing to the floor. Placing it on his other rescue, the cushion, he studied the words on the screen.

"So your friend is in a play?"

"Nah, she's the stage manager. Which is this crazy busy job of organizing everything. And she's really good at it. That's what makes her so awesome. She stage managed last year's play too, and I was the star!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Gillian failed to mention that the play in question had actually been a musical, the musical had been based off of _Romeo and Juliet_, and her role had been neither of the Romeo or Juliet. Those had gone to her friends Antonio and Lovina. "It was awesome, people gave me standing ovations and everything. Wanna see pictures?"

She didn't wait for an answer, reaching over his shoulders to click open folders on her desktop. "There! That's me and Lovi. She looks grumpy because she was acting, but she's actually like that ALL the time. Then there's me and Francis! We're dancing! Isn't that awesome? Then there's me and Liz, when I'm being way more awesome than her. I'm not even exaggerating this time; it's actually in the script - how awesome is that? There's me and Lovi and 'Tonio! At the end they actually _kiss_ onstage and it was so funny because she wouldn't let him in rehearsals, so Arthur had to make up a fake kiss but the real kiss was more awesome because the fake kiss just looked so fake oh and here's me being the MOST AWESOME of all the girls because I got to wear red and nobody else did -"

English wasn't his first language, so Fritz only understood about a third of the words pouring out of his cousin's mouth. However, the difficulty lay not in the words she was using, but the incredible speed of how they were uttered. "Okay, awesome…" He handed the laptop back to her. "Can we look at them later?"

She pouted. "But we haven't even gotten to the scene where I kick Al and all the other Jets' butts! Or the scene when 'Tonio _DIES_."

"I'm sure it's awesome. But I came in here to fetch you so we could pick up your friend from the Hauptbahnhof."

Gillian finally shot up into a real sitting position. How could she have forgotten? Francis was coming in on the 3:30 train from Paris that day. Now that the holidays were over, it was time to resume their epic journey across Europe. If anyone had looked at their trip so far, they would have thought that it was a little illogical…Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Prague, Paris…now Berlin. But who cared? They were doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without anyone telling them what to do. Anyone at all. Gillian bounced excitedly on the cushions. It would be so awesome to play tour guide and show Francis around Berlin. With Fritz, too!

Her cousin was regarding her in a mixture of amusement and affection. "So, ready?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

"Hello," HK said brightly.

The tiny freshman standing on the other side of the table gazed blankly at them. Maddie was trying to keep smiling (which was so very tiring at the end of the day), while HK had chosen to settle for an expression of affable contemplation.

"Hello," he repeated. "I'm HK, the director. This is Maddie, stage manager. And you are…Johann?"

The boy nodded solemnly and twiddled with one long braid. Maddie was grateful for the sign-up sheet; she would have definitely mistaken this kid for a girl without seeing his name. Having read it, HK was now regarding him with interest.

"Edelstein? Are you related to Roderich? I always thought he was an only child."

Johann locked his mournful eyes upon him. "Yes. No. I dyed my hair. For Art."

"Uh, okay. Cool." Maddie added herself to this strange conversation. "So, Johann. Why do you want to be in the play?"

"Theatre is Art."

"Well." HK exchanged a glance with Maddie. This kid was really weird. "…You're not wrong."

"Any particular role you're interested in?"

"No."

"Do you know the plot of _Peter Pan_?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Uh. Great. That's totally great. We'll just have you read for, uhh…" Johann was definitely one of the smallest – if not _the_ smallest – student they'd auditioned so far. Maddie pointed at the various stacks of paper at the end of the table. "…Michael. There are three different scenes, but don't worry, they're all really short. I'll read the other roles with you. Feel free to look over it first."

Johann accepted his cold reads with grave dignity and began skimming the text. Maddie looked over at her friend, who was doodling on the audition sheet. Seeing what looked to be one really long braid down the margins, she poked him urgently.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"It's how I remember who we've seen," HK explained, showing her his other papers. Maddie noticed that there were little pictures on every single form, including a surprisingly good rendition of a Stunfisk.

"Right. Jonas. His favourite pokémon." She peered down at his drawings. "And is that…Natalya?"

HK looked pleased. "Yes. Good job."

"Why did you give her _fangs_?"

"I think she'd make a good vampire." He shrugged shamelessly. "You know. The sparkly kind."

"Seriou-"

"Ah?"

The two guiltily turned their attention to the perplexed freshman waiting to continue his audition. "Sorry, sorry. We'll begin."

Johann's wide eyes flickered up and down from his script as he followed along.

"Mother, how did you get to know me?"

"A little less noise, there."

"At what time was I born, mother?"

"At two o'clock in the night-time, dearest."

"Oh, mother, I hope I didn't wake you."

"Thank you," HK intoned serenely. Maddie shuffled through the mess of cold read papers to find the second bit of dialogue. She should have been more prepared. Being stage manager was _already_ hectic, even when they were just holding auditions, she thought sourly. HK was sitting there drawing whatever he wanted while she was the one reading with the actors. Not to mention that there were a lot of new people to audition this year, since about half the normal people who came out to auditions had belonged to last year's graduating class, which included both Arthur and Roderich.

Speaking of Arthur…she shot a sidelong look at HK, who was doodling a second braid to match Johann's hairstyle.

"Here we are," she announced as she found the second sheet. "Ready?"

There were about four lines of Wendy and John lines to be read before Johann could come in. Maddie couldn't help feeling slightly stupid as she talked to herself.

"I am happy to acquaint you, Mr. Darling, you are again a father. Boy or girl? Boy. Mummy, it's hateful of him."

Johann drew himself up and exuded the perfect air of childlike pride. "Now, John, have me."

"We don't want any more."

"Am I not to be born at all?"

"Two is enough."

"Come, John! _Boy_, John." Johann sighed dramatically. "Nobody wants me!"

Maddie pushed her glasses up her nose and continued to read as Mrs. Darling. "I do."

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"Thank you," chirped HK once again. There was no room left to continue his doodle; he had reached the bottom of the page. "Don't worry about the last scene, we've heard enough. That was really good, Johann. We'll email you about callbacks."

Johann nodded solemnly again, and picking up his book bag – Maddie suddenly realized it was exactly like Roderich's old one, how did she miss that? –disappeared out the door before you could say, "Michael Darling is Art."

"He's less curious than you'd expect for a little kid," HK remarked the instant the door closed. "But I kind of like the idea of a sombre and morose kind of Michael. It'd still be really cute. In that Eeyore sort of way. What do you think?"

"I think you should actually let on that you're paying attention to the actors, because I had no idea you were really watching."

HK's lips twitched as he gave her one of his almost-smiles. "But that's my secret. See if they're still good when they don't think I'm watching."

"Secrets, secrets," she grumped, trying to pack all the little loose half-sheets of cold reads into a folder. "Speaking of secrets, how's Arthur?"

HK betrayed no emotion. "Fine. I guess."

"I guess? Well, that doesn't sound too good_._"

She hadn't really meant anything by it, and was surprised when HK abruptly stood up and shoved his own papers a little forcefully into his messenger bag. "Couldn't talk for that long. He was probably busy with Christmas. Or whatever. His family went over instead of him coming back. So. Yeah. Busy. He said."

Maddie sensed that it would be better to keep her mouth shut. But this plan proved to fail when HK changed the subject.

"_Speaking of secrets_, how's Gillian?"

She squeaked and all the cold reads slipped out of the folder and onto the floor. HK rolled his eyes before stooping over to help her.

"Uh, fine, too. I guess."

He smirked, but she cut him off before anything could be said. "She's with her grandparents and cousin in Berlin, going to Christmas fairs and being "awesome," as usual. Francis is with his dad and stepfamily in Paris, and then he's going to go visit her this month. Probably right around now."

It felt very satisfying to actually have an answer. HK stopped smirking and turned towards the door.

"Well. Great. For them. See you tomorrow. Same time and place."

"Yeah." Two more days of auditions, then time to cut for callbacks. Even though a show of this size really wasn't going to need any cutting. "Bye!"

He was already gone. Maddie plopped the overflowing folder into her backpack. Fifteen minutes. Only fifteen minutes to bike home. Her fingers itched, anticipating the computer keyboard already.

* * *

**A/N: Fritz says, "Good morning, little mouse!" Very adorable =D I found it in a phrasebook my German friend showed me. Now I have resolved to introduce myself to people in Germany this way: **_**Ich bin die Comix. Ich komme aus Hong Kong. Ich bin Eisbärringkämpfer von Beruf. **_**(This is all true, of course /straightface)**

**I'm actually very eager about experiencing a Hetalia High theatre production again, although HK's directing style will be considerably different than Arthur's, naturally. Expect less shouting. And more snarkiness. **

**Please review! Thank you =D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sincere apologies for the delay! I had a weeklong vacation without any internet, and then I had a huge test and an essay. But both of them were **_**the last ever I'll have to do!**_** At least, in my undergraduate career. =3=**

**Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.  
****Peter Pan belongs to JM Barrie.**

* * *

"Hello there, I'm Fritz."

"Francis. A pleasure."

The men shook hands generously in the sparkling, modern train station, with other Berliners hurrying past them to get to their destinations. Gillian, a complete head shorter than both of her companions, danced around them impatiently.

"Let's hurry up and go home, so we can drop the bags off! Then we can start exploring!"

The wheels of Francis's case made a soft zipping noise as they carted it towards the exit. They clacked in the gaps between tiles, though the three paid little notice.

"Haven't you already explored most of Berlin? You were here for almost three weeks."

"Yeah, but you haven't." Gillian squeezed between Francis and Fritz, wriggling an arm each into theirs, forming a human wall. "I've been scoping out all the most awesome ones, so we know what to do and what to skip. Aren't you pleased?"

"Yes, of course."

Gillian nuzzled her cheek into the sleeve of Francis's navy peacoat happily. Now that he was finally here, a lot more fun was going to happen. Fritz was great and all, a really fun cousin, but sometimes, he held her back. Lately, he'd been trying to get her to have some serious chats with him – and Gillian instantly had found other topics to talk about. But still, he would sit down next to her and start going on about responsibility, reasoning, recklessness, blah blah blah. Too many R words. Gillian liked to roll her tongue, but didn't really care to bother with the rest of the sounds.

They exited the doors of the station. Long rows of steps separated them from the street level. Fritz had been lucky in finding a parking spot for his car, and Francis's case continued to trundle along behind them. The loud smacks of the wheels bouncing off the steps greatly amused Gillian, and she craned her neck to watch it. Fate rewarded her carelessness with a swift slip of the foot on the edge of a step.

The stalwart men at either side were more than sufficient to hold her up, even as Francis momentarily lost control of the case.

"Whoa, there!" Fritz's arm tensed as she grappled with it, scrambling back to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Just awesome, thank you very much!" She grinned to mask any embarrassment. Francis had finally righted his case on a step.

Fritz sighed. "Francis…promise me you'll look after this incorrigible girl for me?"

"Does it look like I have a choice?" The other boy laughed, and the chill winter wind whipped blond hair across his face. "Seems like I've been doing so for all my life."

Gillian placed her fists on her hips and frowned. "Hey! I'm totally okay with taking care of myself! Who said I can't? I'm awesome!"

"You can do whatever you want, Gilly, but I'll still be behind you with a bucket of water to put out the flames."

She stuck her tongue out at him. Fritz masked a smile and walked on ahead to unlock the car door.

* * *

Maddie blinked blankly at HK.

"What," she asked, "Do you mean by 'movers'?"

"I want to see if people can move well."

"You're going to do dancing?"

"Not exactly. I want people to _move_."

HK needed to check up with the Redundant Department of Redundancy. He stood facing her calmly, even as she frowned. "Are you trying to be really theatre-y or something? I thought we were through with that crap when Arthur left. And actually, he wasn't even that ambiguous. Just dramatic."

"There's supposed to be a lot of pantomime and action in this play," HK explained. "Even some of the main characters don't have many lines. It's all about the movement. So people who aren't willing to be over-the-top shouldn't be given too much to do."

He turned to the group of students that had separated themselves into clusters of chattering, murmuring, giggling, or squabbling huddles. One group, comprised of particularly short characters, was creating an awful lot of noise.

"Look, I'd make the perfect Peter Pan! Nobody here is as cool enough to lead the Lost Boys! I don't care that your _name_ is Peter, Peter, but honestly, you suck."

"Says the guy who freaks out whenever he's grounded from the internet! Remember when Berwald took your iPad away?"

Maddie recognized the second speaker as Arthur's younger brother, but the instigator started again. "Shut up! I don't want you to talk about that! You're just jealous that I've got better technology skills. And that I'm totally strong, I beat him in arm wrestling-"

"He was only pretending so your stupid feelings wouldn't get hurt!"

The shortest of the bunch, a girl dressed in a pink hoodie, huffed impatiently. "Both of you, shut up. I'm always the only ever normal one here…"

Maddie retreated to the refuge that was the production desk while HK moved to break up the freshman squabble. At least these kids were set for being over-the-top. She flipped open HK's laptop and logged in, only half-listening to his announcement.

"Hi, welcome to the callback. I'm HK, and your director. That's Maddie, our stage manager, over there, and you'll get bonus points if you still remember her name at the end of this. Maybe some of you were in the show last year, which is great. But we're going to do something different right now…"

Maddie ducked behind the laptop, not sure whether she should have been insulted or amused by the joke made at her expense. On the one hand, it was true that for some unfathomable reason, Maddie had the amazing talent of completely confusing people shortly after being introduced. But was that really an adequate reason for HK to point that out to a huge group of people? Honestly.

_Hi Gillian,_

_I'm writing to you live from our callbacks for _Peter Pan_! So this email might be really short, sorry about that. Due to the content of the show, we didn't really need to cut that many people, and we probably won't cut anybody from this unless they're absolutely unworkable. HK has his own ideas for how to figure out where to put people, which should be really interesting to watch._

People were now shuffling into a rough circle. Maddie was supposed to also be paying attention, as she and HK were the only panelists present. Leaning away from the computer reluctantly, she grabbed her clipboard and clicked a pen, waiting.

"So, I'll go first. My name's HK, your director. I'm a junior."

He gestured to his left, towards the short girl from earlier. "I'm Zoe, and I'm in ninth grade."

"My name is Jonas Stahl! I'm in grade nine, and my favourite pokemon is a Stunfisk!"

"You know me, HK. I'm Peter."

"Yeah, but not everyone does…next?"

As the introductions continued their slow crawl around the circle, Maddie snuck back to her letter.

_Particularly a few newbies. There's Johann Edelstein, Roderich's younger brother. We didn't even know he had one until his audition, but I guess you would…do you find it weird, how when you leave there's an entire class of new people coming in to replace you? _

_Haha, sorry for that random bit of philosophical rambling…you can have some complaining instead (if you don't mind). It's easier to find new actors than to find new techies. Eduard said he probably will be able to help with lights again, but HK is going to have to teach sound stuff to whoever volunteers. I have a feeling he might even end up mixing a lot of the tracks himself. Right now, the only person I can be sure of is Feliks for costumes again. He even BEGGED to do them as soon as he heard what the play was…hands and knees, the whole deal!_

A strange noise interrupted her from her writing. Maddie poked her head over the laptop to see Adam Smith awkwardly moving to the centre of the circle, arms flailing. Letting out another ear-splitting yowl, he slowly made his way to the other side until he was in front of another person. Raivis took a deep breath and began to imitate him, mirroring the way he flapped his arms, and letting his voice match Adam's. Maddie was totally mystified.

"What the hell?"

HK suddenly reappeared next to her. "They're doing transformations."

"What on earth are transformations?"

"They're some sort of warm-up that Arthur has to do in his acting classes. You start off with one repeated movement and sound, and then you transform the action by altering or adding a small aspect of it." Raivis was now stomping his foot after every yowl. "Like that."

Maddie stared. "They look absolutely demented."

"I know, right?" HK looked exceptionally pleased with himself. "Are you recording this?"

She rolled her eyes, but activated the webcam anyway. "How do you even explain this to somebody without physically doing it?"

"Arthur showed me on Skype like, last October. He looked so ridiculous." HK studied Zoe's quick, sweeping strokes, her chestnut side ponytail bobbing. "Hmmm…hey, you there. Marie-Lise, right? Start a new one."

"So I guess he's having a lot of fun in uni, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Lots. Probably. Stop distracting me." In a flash, HK did some transforming himself, unexpectedly taking a more authoritative tone. "Natalya, you have to copy her. _Then_ add your own change."

_This callback is getting kind of crazy right now, so I'm going to have to stop. I'll tell you all about it later! Hope you and Francis are having a good time too._

_Your friend, Maddie._

* * *

"And, she sent a clip of this video they were recording of them! It was so awesome! All like, _neeeeyyyaaaaahhhh_…why couldn't have Artyfarts done that with us? Damn!"

Gillian already spoke really loudly, but the bustling pub Fritz had chosen for them to spend their last night in still gave her a challenge.

"We watched it like five times! Couldn't stop laughing. Then we tried to do some of this transformer stuff too, but I guess it doesn't work with only two people. Bah."

Fritz laughed. "Sounds like a leisurely way to end your trip."

Gillian poked him. "Hey! Don't say that! The trip's not over…just only in this part!"

The travelling bug had bit her hard, after a whole week of playing tour guide for Francis. They would romp around the city, looking at the big sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Pergamon Museum, and of course, the Berlin Wall. When Fritz got off work, they also spent time casually, going for drinks, movies, or just plain hanging out. But Gillian had been stuck in Berlin for an entire month now, and couldn't wait to go to new places.

"We're taking the train to Vienna," Francis was telling Fritz.

"Wonderful! The classical music capital of the world. It's a pity that you're only going in the winter. The Vienna Philharmonic does a concert at the Schönbrunn for free each summer. All you have to do is get there early with a blanket, sit in the gardens and enjoy."

"One of our really close friends is at the conservatory of music. I'm sure he can find a way to let us see a performance of theirs!"

If Roderich had heard this, he would have felt quite disconcerted over the fact that Francis had just called him a "close friend" of his and Gillian's. But he was not present, so Fritz just exclaimed at how fortunate they were, and Gillian drained her beer.

"But still," Fritz was saying. "After this trip, you must have some idea of what you want to do. Any plans for then?"

Francis shrugged noncommittally and looked at Gillian. She made a face. The whole point of the trip was to _get away_ from planning out every small detail of life. Gillian wanted to live in the moment. She hadn't travelled halfway across the globe just to start thinking of all the limits people tried to put on her awesomeness again.

"Well…" Francis decided to speak, taking the hint. "My father spoke to me about this too. I could go back to Paris and intern with his advertising company. That's something I think I could do, anyway."

"What? No!" Gillian exclaimed. "You can't just ditch me and Toni!"

"I said I could, not that I would." Francis picked up his glass of cognac and sniffed at it. "It's only a thought."

She pouted. "But that sounds so unawesome and boring…"

Fritz cut her off. "It might sound like that now, but think about it, Gill. A trip like this has got expenses. You're going to have to figure out a way to pay it off somehow, even if your parents agreed to cover it. Or at least, there must be something you have to do after it's over."

Gillian groaned. The laughter and rumblings of the other late-night bar patrons echoed behind her. She knew that her cousin had only the best wishes for her, but she didn't want to hear his words tonight. It was only the end of January. There was so much more of Europe to see. She didn't want this trip to end.

* * *

**A/N: I'm super sorry about the delay, actually ;_; I swear this shall not turn into another **_**Thicker Than Water**_** with month-long waits! But I am rather busy right now, packing up my stuff and dealing with last minute plans in Canada. That's right, I'm going home, and this time it's going to be for a while! =D I'm so happy. Eight months have been the longest that I've ever gone without being in HK. **

**Thank you for reading, please R&R! C:**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Aaaand we're back! Hello, 2013 C: I extend a huge hug and many thanks to anyone who has actually stuck by until now! Let's see…where were we?**

**Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.  
****Peter Pan belongs to JM Barrie.**

* * *

Francis and Gillian had tossed their chances to the wind and booked themselves a room in a local bed and breakfast for their stay in Vienna. Surprisingly, it was a change for the better. For about half the price of a tourism-approved hotel cranny, they were given two mahogany full beds made with quilted covers within a spacious, airy room. The two friends were absolutely thrilled. Gillian flung open the doors to the tiny balcony in order to peer down at those in the street below.

"Greetings, Austria! The great Gill and Fran-Fran have arrived to your humble city. Fall to your knees in awe!"

"Hey, time to stop terrorising the locals," Francis called from the desk. He had plugged in his laptop, waiting as it connected to the B&B's wifi. "Did you forget we've got a Skype date with 'Tonio in like, five minutes?"

"'Course I haven't!"

She bounded back over to him, and they watched intently as the small video screen loaded. In a minute, an image sprang to life: a room ablaze with morning sunlight, though that was no match for the dazzling smile on their friend's face.

"Francis! Gilly!"

"Toni!"

"Good morning from this side of the pond!"

"It's evening here," laughed Francis. He turned the computer to face the balcony windows. "Sun's almost set. We're in Vienna."

"Oooh, that's so cool! You should go find Ro…hey, hey! Lovi! Look who I'm talking to!"

Evidently they had caught Lovina on one of her visits to the farm. This wasn't surprising, considering how regularly she went. Antonio's grin widened as he scooted over to make room for her in front of the webcam, the wheels on his chair making a loud rattling noise. His girlfriend's tilted face appeared on the left, very disgruntled and still bearing traces of sleep.

"Come on. Say hi!"

"Fine. Hi. And bye."

"Wait, that can't be just it!"

"Sure it can. _BYE_."

Francis and Gillian shared a snigger as Antonio hastily got up to chase after Lovina, leaving his computer chair spinning around uncontrollably. It was probably for the better anyway – while she actually wasn't as much of a killjoy as one would think, Lovina was still somewhat possessive of Antonio, and usually didn't care for the silly pranks and jokes they loved to crack.

Antonio slid back into his seat, allowing himself a few spins as he reported back.

"Okay, she just says she doesn't want to talk until she's had breakfast. I had mine hours ago, though."

"You're like a rooster, Toni." Gillian yawned, feeling tired at the mere thought of waking that early. "A regular skylark."

"It's almost lunchtime anyway," he responded cheerfully. "So...Austria! Have you met up with Roderich yet?"

"No, we just got here. About an hour ago. Gave him a call before we left and he said to have lunch tomorrow at some cafe he likes. Hey, did you know that he's actually living with his aunt?"

"Oh, that's pretty convenient."

"Yeah, he jumped at the chance to not stay in the dorms. Not like he actually has a problem paying for it."

Antonio cocked his head and a thoughtful expression came onto his face. "Well, it's probably wiser in the long run to be careful with finances. Especially for you guys - all this travelling has got to be pretty hard on the wallet, right?"

Francis raised his eyebrows nonchalantly. "We got pretty lucky. The entire last two months were with our family. And this Bed and Breakfast is really sweet - Gill, I think we should start looking only into these kind of places from now on."

"Yeah! 'Tonio, look at the amazing room we got here. It's just as nice as the Prague hotel, but just as cheap at the hostel in Copenhagen." On Antonio's end, the picture wobbled violently as Francis's laptop was lifted up from the desk. "Look at the furnishings! Feel like we're in a castle, but a nice modern day one. Oh, and here's the view."

The tiny balcony was just barely enough to hold two teenagers and a computer. Antonio oohed and aahed loyally at the baroque-styled roofs and windows, although in reality he could see little from the tiny screen. A sharp gust of air caused his friends to retreat into their fabulous room. Francis and Gillian both flopped onto the closest bed, any consultation with one another unnecessary.

"How long are you guys going to be there?"

"About two and a half weeks, the usual. Well, except for just before this...when you're with family, you've no choice but to stay longer."

"Don't worry, we'll find you an awesome birthday present!"

Antonio laughed. "Yeah, and it'll totally get here on time, in one magical week."

"...Oh. Right." Gillian paused, trying to spin the statement. "Whatever, it's actually better that way. It'll show up out of nowhere long after it's passed, so instead you can have a present of pure random awesomeness, not some boring birthday present."

"Boring? From you? Never!" Antonio grinned again as he leaned forwards and rested his chin in his hands. "What else you been up to? Whatcha gonna do other than see Roderich?"

Francis began describing the trip from Berlin, from their frantic chase after a train that had been on the verge of leaving to the interesting types who had shared a compartment with them, including that man with a wooden leg and the most amazing moustache. Gillian was ecstatic when he had graciously agreed to a photograph; a new Facebook profile picture was long overdue. She rested her head on a pillow and stared up at the ceiling, which had been painted the perfect sky blue. As Francis moved onto the choice sights of Vienna that the two of them had picked out, her mind drifted back overseas. Maddie hadn't sent her anything in a few days, being burdened with a very busy schedule. Gillian didn't mind too much - anyway, there could be a new message waiting in her inbox right now.

She sat up, ready to ask Francis if she could use the laptop after the call was done. The moment she did, another figure sidled back into view.

"Hey, Lovina! Welcome back."

"Yeah, okay." A full stomach didn't seem to have improved Lovina's opinion of this Skype call, but she parked herself on Antonio's lap anyway. He happily obliged, wrapping his arms around her as she poked a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Ah, our star crossed lovers from stage to reality are still going strong, I see."

Lovina blushed, scowling. "God, you're never going to get tired of cracking those lame references, are you?"

Francis smirked. "You wish. Come on, it's the story of your romance - or shall we say, _showmance_. We'll probably even show the footage at the inevitable wedding." He ignored the squeak of rage and embarrassment. "Shall I await invitations?"

Lovina had snatched back her toast and was gnawing away, pointedly not looking at the screen. Antonio shrugged.

"You need money for a wedding...there's a lot of stuff to plan, you know. And then after, if we wanted to get our own house, that's another expense, and not to mention kids..."

"Oh _my_ GOD! Why are we even talking about this? I'm seventeen years old, stupids. Not even out of high school!"

"Oh yeah, that too."

"I don't want to get married _anytime_ soon." Lovina angrily brushed the crumbs from her lips with the back of her hand and stood up. "Let me know when you're all done with this stupid topic."

She stomped off for the second time. Gillian and Francis grinned at each other. Turning back to the screen, they were surprised to see Antonio so unperturbed at the rejection. As if reading their minds, he tilted his head and shrugged.

"She only said she doesn't want to get married anytime _soon_. That makes sense. And anyway, I said that kind of stuff needs a lot of preparation. I don't think we have the means to support each other right now..."

"Ugh!" Gillian fell back into the pillows, rolling her eyes. "Can't believe we're actually talking seriously about weddings and stuff. This makes us sound like old fogeys."

The boys laughed. "Fogey? Who's old fashioned now?" Antonio accused.

Francis took the blame. "Hey, I only brought up marriage just to mess with her. I didn't think you were going to take it so seriously. Though I guess that out of everyone we know, you two are the closest to the altar..."

"No more talking about it," Gillian ordered. "Tell us what's going on back at home!"

Antonio happily launched into a lengthy ramble about the going-ons on the farm, their old school, and anyone else who had even the tiniest scrap of information to spill. Gillian was glad that Antonio was so easily distracted. On the one hand, throwing a big wedding would be really fun and exciting. She had gone to a few weddings – even been a flower girl once, but only once for obvious reasons. Not once had she given much thought to what came afterwards. Gillian shrugged it off. It would be years before the three of them would be broken up that way.

"...because it's still winter," Antonio finished. Something signaled to him in the background, and he turned his head to listen. "Ah, we're having lunch soon. I gotta go fetch the kids from their art lessons. Talk to you soon, okay?"

"Definitely. Message you for the next time?"

"Yeah!" The screen was filled with blurry pixilated fingers as Antonio waved at the camera. "Bye! Have fun! Take lots of pictures!"

"Obviously!"

The screen went black. Gillian instantly laid claim to the laptop, to which Francis easily conceded to. The day-long travelling had tired him out, he declared, shifting onto his side to take a short nap. Gillian promised to wake him for dinner.

Sure enough, a bolded line on the screen indicated that there was news from across the world.

_Dear Gillian,_

_I'm so, so sorry about not answering you faster. It sounds like you're having the greatest time in Europe, and have a safe trip to Vienna! There isn't anything to say apart from having a lot of schoolwork and rehearsals, which was exactly what I talked about last time. Sometimes, my life seems incredibly boring...Oh, we had a really huge snowstorm recently! I don't know if you already knew about it. As much as I love snow, a tiny part of me is really looking forward to spring...but that's when _Peter Pan_ goes up, so maybe I DON'T really want it to come so soon._

_Speaking of the play, rehearsals are coming along just fine! So far we've only had two or three, so it's not like a WHOLE lot is getting done...yet. Jonas and Peter have stopped arguing so much, now that it's clear that their parts are actually quite equal in stage time and lines. Since there are a lot of fight scenes, we already started to choreograph the big one at the end between Peter and Hook. It's really complicated, since they have to climb over tons of stuff (well, Zoe does) or use two weapons (well, Adam does!). Good thing they're brother and sister so they can practice at home._

_Maybe I can take pictures so you can see next time._

_Maddie_

* * *

**A/N: A short chapter to get the show back onto the road!**

**Ummm so, a quick update on my life: I officially graduated from university in November, and after a few weeks of job hunting, landed a steady one almost completely by accident. Unfortunately it's exhausting and very unfulfilling, not to mention that I'm actually overqualified for the position. So my last day is this coming Saturday, leaving me free to volunteer at a book festival the week afterwards! I hope to do some networking/get advice from those in the business/just have some fun while I try to get back into the flow of all things writable, since I'm going to apply for a master's program in creative writing. Here's to lots of hope and luck!**

**Once again, thanks for reading. I'm fully aware of how miserably long this hiatus was, and will no longer promise any sort of regular updating scheme because of it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.  
****Peter Pan belongs to JM Barrie.**

* * *

Recently, Maddie had felt like time was slipping out of her control. People had always warned her about the perils of junior year, and she was finally feeling the pressure. Not only did her honours classes pile on the homework each night, the rehearsals after class seemed to stretch longer each day. And she was getting really tired of them. For Maddie, stage management was not just about sitting behind the table, dutifully jotting down notes and organising lists. It was unpaid babysitting. Not a session passed when she did not have to search for a latecomer, enforce quiet from chatty ensemble members, or worst of all, standing in for a no-show during a scene. There was nothing more mortifying for a tech, she thought, than being used as a blocking prop. Some of the cast were beginning to treat her like a boarding school matron, sidling over with big puppy eyes in hopes that she would grant them their requests: to reschedule a sectional, a grace period for off book dates, intervene on their behalf to change something HK had decided. When the answer was no – and it was almost always no – they crept off to the sidelines sheepishly, leaving her spirits feeling heavier and older than necessary.

A two-person production meeting with HK in the school library during her only study block would be a breather compared to any of that. Or so she thought.

"Hopefully, we can start full runs in say…a month," HK said to her. They were seated at a study table placed flush against the wall, their papers and pens scattered across it. Through the window, large snowdrifts that had yet to melt gleamed white in the sunlight. Maddie nestled herself into her corner and squinted when the beams shone in and set HK's dark hair glinting.

"No, I take that back. Three weeks." He wrote down a note in red ink, upon a square marked March 5th. Maddie had spent the better part of the previous evening drawing up the calendar by hand on a large sheet of A3 paper. "When's off book?"

She sighed. "It was supposed to be today, but so many people have been asking for line that I finally pushed it back to this Friday. Sorry about that. Seriously, there aren't that many large paragraphs of text or anything…"

"Having a lot of really short lines could also get confusing," HK interrupted thoughtfully. He looked down at the chart with its sticky notes and scribbles in various colours. "It gets easier after there's blocking to go with the words, but they can't really do the blocking with scripts in hand, so you ask them to hurry up and memorise, but they need to know what blocking goes with it…" He trailed off, chagrined at the vicious circle.

As tired as she was, Maddie knew that the past weeks had been tough on her friend, too. As the director, he also had to deal with the immaturity of their performers, perhaps even more so as some of the spats occurred onstage. Doing the fight choreography was physically taxing and he always ran notes with Maddie afterwards. And, HK was actually in more honours courses than Maddie was. The previous weekend had been Chinese New Year, so he had lessened the amount of rehearsal time – but while Maddie could rest and catch up on work, he had been busy with family visits and dinners. It was worth it though, he confided in her, thanks to the money and food. But she couldn't help noticing that he arrived to class in the morning looking exhausted and pale.

She changed the subject. "Anyone for sound yet?"

"I've been downloading and mixing some stuff at home. But no, haven't found anyone to actually run it yet. I also need them to record them as cues." HK rubbed his nose irritably. "And honestly, those are the easiest bits."

"Does Eduard know how to do it?"

"He probably could figure it out fast enough, but he can't run both light and sound at the same time. I wouldn't want him to."

They lapsed into silence. Maddie frowned in concentration, and HK twirled the red pen distractedly over his fingers.

"Props?" He finally asked.

"Here." She dug through the piles until a long list appeared, then handed it to him. "I'm going to send a mass email tonight asking everyone if they can contribute from their own possessions so we don't have to break the bank. Because we still need to build several things."

"True. Let's do that soon," he agreed. They pushed aside the papers to stare at their calendar again, trying to find some free time in the midst of the multi-coloured ink: blue rehearsal dates, vital notes in red, and green for technical duties. Most of them were already highlighted, signifying that they were unalterable.

"Okay, for cereal, you two. My outfit is _so_ not 'too loud' for the library!"

Maddie and HK looked up at the new voice that cut into their conversation. A short, lean boy stood pouting at the end of the table, arms folded and hip tilted dramatically. The outfit in question was a royal purple sweater over mustard yellow skinny jeans, which in turn were tucked into a familiar pair of grey and mauve suede boots, now a little worse for wear after being used for a second winter. The reality was that while his clothes were rather eye-catching, it was the volume of his complaints that were attracting the disapproving stare of those nearby.

"I mean, hello! Learn a little history, hon – royal colours of both East and West! I'm a walkin' cross-cultural phenomenon. Nobody's gonna cramp my style up in_ this _club! And ever heard of contrasting colours? Take a spin on the colour wheel, you little bi-"

Maddie hastily pulled over another chair before he could finish the sentence. Feliks flopped down with melodramatic dignity. His lips remained in a plump pout until he pulled out a ragged sketchbook – when his expression changed completely.

"Okay, can I just like, thank you soooo much for picking a fantasy show this time? Forget the dramz, let's get creative in here! God, last year Arthur was so pissy about it being 'historically accurate'. I was amazing anyway, but like, it was stifling my inner diva, y'know?"

"Well, free to go as far as you want," HK replied mildly. He had opened the sketchbook and had begun flipping through the pages. "Just remember that we're on a budget."

Feliks sighed dramatically and flicked some of his long blond hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I knoooow. That's why let some people use some of their own stuff, though they gotta check with me first, obvy. At least some people in your cast aren't totally fashion hopeless. Like Natalya, for example."

Maddie peered at the upside-down sketches and scribbles. "It seems that you've just assigned them to supply their own tights."

"Duh, because that's the only 'normal' thing these characters would wear, silly!" Feliks reached over and turned the page. "But for reals, now. I could alter last year's white dress, the Maria one, into a nightgown for Wendy."

"That…that would actually be a really good idea. But wait," Maddie suddenly recalled the costume count she had made at the beginning of the year. "We don't know where it is."

"Oh, I kept it."

"You kept it?"

"Well, yeah! It's mine!" Feliks thrust his hands under her nose. "These fingers _bled_ for that embroidery! Like, a river of blood!"

She looked at HK incredulously, but he merely shrugged. "We can just say you're returning it to us a bit late."

"Totes," Feliks said brightly. "And I got tons of body glitter at home. Like seriously, you guys, I swear the 90s are coming back. With a vengeance!"

He stood up and flipped his hair behind his shoulder, but since it wasn't that long yet, they just bounced back. "Aiite, are we good? 'Cause Ima go fabric shopping now. Those ruffles," he declared, pointing at the pirate designs, "Ain't gonna make themselves."

HK smiled for the first time all day. "Sure, no problem. This is great, thanks."

"'Kay, awesome possum. Wait 'til you see them for real! Byeeee!" With a flick of the hand that was more of a salute than a wave, Feliks sauntered off in all his purple and yellow glory.

Maddie watched him disappear behind the shelves. "At least someone's happy about all this work."

"He's a good guy to have on our side. Probably will have good set ideas too."

"Well, let's not talk about it yet. I've got enough to deal with for one day," she grumped, pulling the sketchbook towards her. "Did I even do this much last year? I can't remember."

"No, you see, I'm much more generous than Arthur is. I'm not so much of a self-centered perfectionist not to share the workload."

Maddie looked at him. He was trying to joke again, but there was a note of meanness in there. That was really unusual.

She decided not to comment, and bent her head over the sketchbook, slowly writing out a list of needed items beside it. As a result, she missed the way HK carefully angled his computer to hide the screen from her. Quietly opening up his email, he began to type.

_Hi Arthur,_

_How are you? I am fine. Rehearsals are progressing slowly. We are done with all the basic blocking, and about halfway through the fight choreography. In particular, the fight between the pirates and Indians involves the most people, so naturally it's the most dangerous. Luckily, our Zoe (Peter) and Adam (Hook) are two of the most level-headed (so to speak) members of the cast, and work hard and carefully. Your brother and Jonas Stahl – Berwald's cousin – get into some argument almost every other rehearsal, which is obnoxious but surprisingly, feels routine now. Maybe if you were here, they'd shut up faster. You did have this knack of freaking people out. In a "good" way. _

_I'm actually sitting with Maddie right now, going over technical issues. Feliks dropped by too and gave me his designs for costumes. He's far more enthusiastic about them than West Side Story's. I haven't found somebody to run sound yet, but something will work. You always said that these things only magically fix themselves just before the crucial moment._

_We also finally worked out a way to create the illusion of flying without using harnesses, since we don't have the budget for that. Here's the idea: build levers, kind of like seesaws, with small platforms on the front for actors to stand on (we are wondering whether it will be necessary to add straps for safety). Using strategic lighting and/or set design, the back part of the lever can be controlled by another cast member or a tech to make them "hover" or "float". What do you think?_

Maddie dropped her pen to rest her hand for a moment. As she wiggled her fingers, she glanced across at her friend. He had paused too, and was staring intently at his monitor with a surprising degree of intensity. Just as she reluctantly reached for her pen, he started typing again, this time with a fury, the tapping sounding more like heavy pounding.

_I don't expect an answer to that question because I doubt you'll have even gotten to it, if you open this email at all. And if I am proven wrong and you ARE reading this right now, I'm going to take this shockingly rare chance to tell you: don't bother. I am too tired and pissed off to hear what you have to say about some contraption that wasn't even your idea in the first place, because I can already hear your voice lording your oh-so-great opinion over the rest of us._

_Because that's what I'm going to have to do to get your attention, right? If I humbly appeal to your enormous EGO instead of, I don't know, you actually caring about my personal life, our other friends, or anything else we might do without you. Something I occasionally wonder about is do you treat everyone this way, or am I some sort of special case. Have you spoken to Alfred, for instance. Or any of the others from your class, like Francis or Gillian. _

_But look, I don't want an answer to that either. I'm here to finally tell you that I DON'T CARE. I am way too stressed and tired to care anymore, to write these letters telling you everything about my life and not hearing back for what's been nearly three months running, excluding ten words from Facebook chat. I DON'T CARE that you're busy with midterms and projects and whatever else the fabulous UK has cooked up for you, because I'm busy with my own work and life and this show that all began with YOU anyway. I REALLY DON'T CARE._

_Unfortunately I still care about what happened last summer and what you told me then. But don't worry about me, I will find a way to stop caring about it._

_I will probably still care about not even being able to pretend you have read these stupid sentimental things, but now I'm comforted with the knowledge that this will be the last time I waste my time on them. And god knows that I can't waste time anymore._

_Goodbye,  
__HK_

In the distance, a bell rang. Maddie stood up and began shoving all the papers into her backpack, sighing to herself again. Now there was only fifty minutes until school let out completely, but there would be yet another rehearsal before she could go home to study and finish the scheduling in front of her. Her mental to-do list was interrupted by a loud noise, as if something heavy had fallen to the floor.

HK had slammed down the lid of his laptop and was blinking rapidly.

"Are you okay?" she ventured.

"It's nothing," he replied, sweeping it into his bag. "See you later."

Before she could counter that this was blatantly something and certainly not nothing, he was gone. He stalked through the stacks of books, speeding past the front desk and out the door.

* * *

**A/N: I actually did write something similar to this during university, though it was purely platonic and perhaps even longer. She wrote me back eventually, but the fact is, she is not Arthur…**

**Anyway, I finally asked myself the dismally late techie question whilst writing out Maddie and HK's production woes: how the heck are they going to make their actors fly? Somehow I was incredibly stupid and never considered it earlier. The internet offered the seesaw suggestion which I really liked, so I'm just going to borrow it for this production. C:**

**ALSO, LITERALLY JUST HAPPENED LESS THAN 5 MINUTES AGO AS I WRITE THIS: NEIL GAIMAN REPLIED MY ASK ON TUMBLR. Well, as a private response, but that makes me feel kind of more honoured, if that makes any sense. Just me and Neil. Holy creamsicles, my favourite living author gave me personal advice. I feel so giddy!**


	6. Hiatus

Hello, guys. Long time no see. I'm so sorry...

Yeah, this is yet ANOTHER hiatus on this story. Although I have been so distant and sporadic with updates, I love this story from the bottom of my heart and really, really want to finish it. I know where I want to go with it, but the current path is so murky. I'm unsure whether it'll take me to my intended destination.

But I've been editing and rewriting _**World Wide Story**_ a LOT, so I've decided to just focus on one thing before moving on with another, since real life also interferes so often. I really like the new changes I'm bringing to WWS, partially because some of the characters (even main characters!) were super-flat and tropey, but now I can finally give them more personality. Even if I am changing a lot more than I expected, I honestly believe that it is a much better written story, and the original heart is still there.

I know it's difficult to track when I edit and update here on FFN since it's just replacing chapters, so I've actually created an AO3 as a brand-new revamping platform for my fics. So if you like, you can follow along there too! The username is the same as always.

I'll still be here though. I don't see the point of ditching the site that helped me begin, and AO3 is still so alien to me.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Sincerely, Comix

Note: This notice will be removed when this story continues.


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